Sweetwater Names Mississippi Distribution Partners

Chris Furnari

Aug. 20, 2014 at 11:45 AM

Sweetwater Brewing will distribute throughout Mississippi beginning in September after signing agreements with four wholesalers in the state. The addition of Mississippi will expand the brewery’s footprint to 10 states as well as Washington D.C.

A&B Distributing and Mitchell Distributing will cover distribution in Oxford and Starkville, respectively. F.E.B Distributing will sell Sweetwater products in Gulfport and Biloxi while Capital City Beverage will handle wholesale operations in Jackson and Central Mississippi.

“I can’t tell you how excited we are to finally begin flowing in Mississippi,” SweetWater founder Freddy Bensch said in a press statement. “This one took a little while for us, but with our new fermentation tanks online and the expanded brewhouse rocking and rolling, our tasty beers will hit Mississippi shelves and taps just in time for college football to kick off!”

Sweetwater will initially launch bottled, canned and draft offerings from its core lineup: 420 Extra Pale Ale, IPA, Blue, Take Two Pils and Tackle Box variety packs. A number of statewide launch events are also planned throughout the month of September.

Last April, Sweetwater completed a $19 million expansion project that quadrupled capacity and included the addition of a 250-barrel brewhouse, ten new 1,000-barrel fermentation tanks, four 1,000-barrel brite beer tanks as well as a high-speed canning line. That expansion enabled the Atlanta-based company to open new markets in the Southeast for the first time since 2008.

Immediately following the buildout, Sweetwater added wholesalers in parts of Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky. In 2014, Sweetwater has broadened its reach even farther, expanding into Kentucky, Ohio and Memphis, Tenn.. The company also plans to add distribution in Texas this year.